All 2nd Round Draft Pick Team

By Richard Gonzalez

I am going to evaluate all of the second-round draft picks to determine an all second-round draft pick line. To recap, here is the following criteria that will be used: I’m not going to include any pick lower than the seventh round, their professor experience will be the main determining factor starting with the NHL, KHL, AHL, and/or any other professional leagues they played for.

The Anaheim Ducks selected 30 second-round players out of a possible 27 picks. The Ducks selected ten centers, four right-wingers, three left-wingers, ten defensemen, and two goalies.

The all second-round draft pick line are the following:

LW) Maxim Balmochnykh C) Matt Cullen RW) Devante Smith-Pelly

D) Justin Schultz D) Jordan Leopold

G) John Gibson

LW) Maxim Balmochnykh was selected in the 1997 draft (45th overall). He only played in six NHL games with the [Mighty] Ducks and recorded an assist. He played in 170 AHL games with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks and the Albany River Rats, where he scored 60 points (26 goals and 34 assists) in a span of four seasons. He also played in 29 KHL games, where ha scored nine points (six goals and three assists). In addition to the KHL, he has played in 105 games in the Russian Super League and scored 33 points (19 goals and 14 assists).

C) Matt Cullen was drafted in the 1996 draft (35th overall). It’s safe to say, Cullen is the best player from the second-round picks. He has played in 1,516 NHL games with the [Mighty] Ducks (427), Carolina Hurricanes (266), Minnesota Wild (272), Pittsburgh Penguins (225), Florida Panthers (86), Nashville Predators (139), New York Rangers (80) and Ottawa Senators (21). He has scored 731 points (266 goals and 465 assists in a span of 21 seasons. Cullen, Pavel Trnka, and the Ducks’ fourth-round pick were traded to the Panthers in exchange for Sandis Ozolinsh and Lance Ward. The three-time Stanley Cup Champion is retired from playing professional hockey.

RW) Devante Smith-Pelly was selected in the 2010 draft (42nd overall). He has played in 395 NHL games with the Ducks (129), Montreal Canadians (66), New Jersey Devils (71), and Washington Capitals (129). He has scored 101 points (44 goals and 57 assists) in a span of eight seasons. He also is a Stanley Cup Champion who played in 24 games with the Capitals in their Cup run and scored eight points (seven goals and an assist). He also has 144 AHL games, where he scored 90 points (47 goals and 43 assists) in a span of four seasons. He currently is in the KHL with Kunlun Red Star and scored 11 points (eight goals and three assists) in 36 games this past season.

D) Jordan Leopold was selected in the 1999 draft (44th overall). Leopold would never play a game with the Ducks because they traded him to the Calgary Flames for Andrei Nazarov and a second-round pick. He has played in 695 NHL games with the Flames (233), Colorado Avalanche (122), Buffalo Sabres (174), St. Louis Blues (49), Penguins (20), Panthers (61), Columbus Blue Jackets (18) and Wild (18). He scored a total of 214 points (67 goals and 147 assists) in a span of 12 seasons. He is currently retired from professional hockey.

D) Justin Schultz was selected in the 2008 draft (43rd overall). He’s infamous among Ducks fans for his decision not to sign with the Ducks prior to completing his college hockey career. He has played in 482 NHL games with the Edmonton Oilers (248) and the Penguins (234). He has scored 214 points (50 goals and 164 assists) in a span of eight seasons and is a two-time Stanley Cup Champion. In addition, he was the seventh runner up for the Calder Trophy for the 2012-13 season and a top ten finalist for the Norris Trophy for the 2016-17 season.

Do not shoot the messenger, this was really hard to include him and not Brandon Montour but all feelings aside, Schultz deserves to be on this list despite his decline in play.

G) Ilya Bryzgalov, selected in the 2000 draft (44th overall). He has played in 465 NHL games with the Ducks (77), Coyotes (257), Philadelphia Flyers (99), Oilers (20), and Wild (12). He holds a career GAA of 2.58, a save percentage of .912, and has 34 shutouts. He helped the Ducks win a Stanley Cup in 2006-07, where he played in five games with a GAA of 2.25 and a save percentage of .922. He finished 2nd in the Vezina Trophy voting and top five for the Hart trophy in the 2009-10 season. For the 2010-11 season, He finished 18 for the Hart trophy and 6th for the Vezina trophy. He also has an Olympic Bronze Medal. He was not the same caliber goalie once he left the Coyotes but he still played some great hockey.

However, I still would take John Gibson as my pick. Gibson was selected in the 2011 draft (39th overall). He has played all of his 287 games with the Ducks and holds a GAA of 2.53, a save percentage of .918, and 19 shutouts. In the 2015-16 season, Gibson co-won the Jennings trophy and finished seventh in voting for the Calder and Vezina. He has turned into a true superstar for the Ducks and has stolen countless number of games for them and his numbers are not much different than Bryzgalov’s.

This concludes the all second-round draft pick line. Be sure to stay tuned for the first-round lineup.

Related Articles:

All 3rd Round Draft Pick Team

All 4th Round Draft Pick Team

All 5th Round Draft Pick Team

All 6th Round Draft Pick Team

All 7th Round Draft Pick Team

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October 5th, 2020